Sharon 'wins' sweeping election victory
Israeli hardliner Ariel Sharon is believed to have won a crushing victory over Ehud Barak in the country's general election.
Exit polls commissioned by Israel's two main TV channels both projected a Sharon win by a wide margin of 59.5% to 40.5 %. The polls have a 3% margin of error.
Jubilation has broken out at Sharon's headquarters in Tel Aviv, with supporters whistling, clapping and blowing horns, waving blue-and-white banners as they awaited his triumphunt arrival.
Sharon refuses to cede the Palestinians more territory or a foothold in Jerusalem, while Barak has offered Palestinians a state encompassing most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as a share of the contested city.
Election officials say the election saw a historically low turnout, just over 60 percent. Traditionally, Israel's voting average is close to 80%
Israeli Arabs, who were a key source of support for Barak in 1999 elections, are believed to have stayed home.
The 72-year-old Sharon had been the overwhelming favourite in pre-election opinion polls, racking up margins of around 20 percentage points.
Israel clamped an election-day closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where Palestinians have already been under tight travel restrictions since the start of ferocious clashes that are now in their fifth month.
Palestinians declared a "day of rage" to coincide with the Israeli voting, but the violence by recent standards was relatively muted. At least 43 Palestinians were hurt in clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank.
Although the great majority of the nearly 400 people killed have been Palestinians, Israelis have been badly rattled by bombings, drive-by shootings, abductions and ambushes that are seen as making increasing inroads into daily life.
